Review: The Once Yellow House

4 stars. This is a completely unique, completely compelling take on a cult / true crime tell-all, start to finish. It's weird - very weird - but I couldn't put it down, and the entirety of the story lands with a really weighty, satisfying thunk. The viewfinder here is super, super narrow, but I personally didn't feel anything was missing; it's all very intentional and I got the strong sense that what's included - what we end up reading - is what was meant to be shared. No more, no less.

Written in epistolary format, The Once Yellow House contains a collection of documents pertaining to a fictional massacre that took place in November of 2020 at the site of the Retinue cult occupation. Our primary storyteller is Hope, the wife of the Retinue's deceased leader, Thomas. We get to read her diary entries documenting the formation and destruction of the cult, as well as audio transcripts of her interview with a surviving ex-member. 

There's a lot of horror packed in. Body horror, cosmic horror, domestic horror, religious cult horror, fungal horror... the list goes on. I absolutely loved the way art, art analysis and art history is woven into the story, and the straightforward presentation of fantasy/supernatural elements. This book really goes hardcore in a way that I haven't encountered in awhile... Gemma Amor is REALLY, REALLY, unbelievably talented.

I docked a star because maybe it got a little cute with itself every now and then. But I'm deadly serious: do not sleep on this. It's incredible and cutthroat and refreshing and fierce. I'll be thinking about it for days and weeks and years to come.

The Once Yellow House on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads